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Fala

or Phala.


1.

A wooden structure, of considerable height, used in sieges, from which missiles were thrown (Fest. p. 88, Fest. 12; Ennius ap. Non. p. 114, 7).


2.

Phalae are mentioned by Juvenal (vi. 590) with the columnae delphinorum in the circus. Hence they are supposed by some writers to be columns on the spina of the circus, supporting the ova, as similar columns supported the dolphins. (See Circus.) But Servius (ad Verg. Aen. ix. 705) says they were towers on which fights took place, erected between the euripus and the metae; and they were probably movable towers used in the sham fights of the circus.

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